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Jeanne Houhou la très gentille Est morte entre des draps très blancs Pas seule Bébert dit l'Anguille Narcisse et Hubert le merlan Près d'elle faisaient leur manille Et la crâneuse de Clichy Aux rouges yeux de dégueulade Répète "Mon eau de Vichy" Va dans le panier à salade Haha sans faire de chichi Les yeux dansant comme des anges Elle riait, elle riait Les yeux très bleus les dents très blanches Si vous saviez, si vous saviez Tout ce que nous ferons dimanche.
Text Authorship:
- by Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki (1880 - 1918), as Guillaume Apollinaire, "L'Anguille", written 1914, appears in Il y a, Paris, Éd. Messein, first published 1925 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963), "L'Anguille", FP 58 no. 1 (1931) [ high voice and piano ], from Quatre Poèmes de Guillaume Apollinaire, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "The eel", subtitle: "A waltz-musette, meant to be played on the accordion", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 83
Jeanne Houhou, the gentlest [one], Passed out between the very white sheets Not alone, Bébert, known as “The Eel" Narcisse and Hubert the whiting Close to her played their [game of] manille. And the pretentious boaster from Clichy With red eyes from throwing up Repeats “My water of Vichy” Go in the salad bowl Haha without making a pretentious fuss. [Her] eyes dance like angels She laughed, she laughed Eyes very blue, teeth very white If you knew, if you knew All the things we’ll do on Sunday.
Subtitle: "A waltz-musette, meant to be played on the accordion"
Translator's notes:Line 1-1: "Houhou" - typical cry of a French owl
Line 1-3: "Bébert" - nickname sometimes given to people prenamed Robert or (more rarely) Albert Bertrand
Line 1-4: "whiting" - slang term for hairdresser; in the Baroque period, French hairdressers were nicknamed “merlans” (whitings) because the white powder they used to preserve the wigs would make them look as white as the popular fish.
Line 1-5: "manille" - a French trick-taking card game using a 32-card deck for two paris of partnered players. The “ten card” is worth the most points, and is called the “manille.”
Line 2-1: "Clichy" - a suburb of Paris
Line 2-3: "water of Vichy" - many French perfumes begin with the phrase “eau de,” so this could be referring to the smell of Vichy (the inhabitants are knon as Vichysoiss), or to the French slang term for hard liquor: “eau de vie.”
Line 2-4: "salad bowl" - panier à salade is also slang for “prison van”
This song was dedicated to Marie Laurencin, a French painter (1885-1956) who was Apollinaire’s girlfriend from 1908-1912. She designed the set for the production of Poulenc’s ballet Les biches, premiered in 1924 by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2016 by Laura Prichard, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki (1880 - 1918), as Guillaume Apollinaire, "L'Anguille", written 1914, appears in Il y a, Paris, Éd. Messein, first published 1925
This text was added to the website: 2016-04-10
Line count: 15
Word count: 88